Despite reopening, the US remains closed for many

USA says the global community is invited to visit the country now that the government has ended restrictions on travelers from 33 countries.

The reality, however, is that it will still be difficult for most of the world, if not impossible. Experts noted that it will take years for the trips to fully recover.

To begin with, half the world is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and therefore does not meet the US criteria for foreign visitors. So while many Europeans will now be able to travel to the United States, people from poorer countries where vaccines are scarce are still left out, with a few exceptions.

For some public health experts, that raises ethical questions about the measure.

“The issue is not to limit access based on vaccination status,” said Nany Kass, deputy director of public health at the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University.

“This makes it systemically impossible for people – generally from poor countries and whose governments have not been able to guarantee the necessary supplies of vaccines – to come to see their loved ones.”

Even if you are vaccinated, that may not be enough. Nonimmigrant adults need to have received vaccines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the World Health Organization for emergency use.

Otherwise, they are also prohibited from entering the United States. That leaves out all the people who received the Russian Sputnik V vaccine or the CanSino vaccine from China.

There are also the months of delays in some places to receive a visa. The Travel Association of America said that, on average, there is a six-month delay in appointments for visitor visas, as many consulates and embassies have not resumed normal operations. Meanwhile, other countries have their own rules, which complicates international travel.

Edgar Orozco, owner of two restaurants, both called Chelito’s, in El Paso, Texas, was excited about the reopening of the land border with Mexico on Monday, noting that he hoped it would help fill the streets of downtown with shoppers. – and customers in their restaurants – this Christmas season, unlike last year, when the streets were empty.

“Now that non-essential travelers are going to be able to return, we are excited to return to those good times,” he said.

However, you have heard cases of people having visa problems, such as the case of a supplier from Mexico who stated that they cannot renew their visa until 2023. The waiting time to get an appointment for a tourist visa from The United States in Ciudad Juárez, bordering El Paso, is 676 days, or almost two years, according to the State Department.

However, experts expect a wave of travelers at US airports, which will help considerably to stimulate the tourism industry in general. Travelers from the 28 European countries who could not enter the United States as of Monday accounted for 37% of foreign visitors in 2019, according to the association.

Travelport, which analyzes flight reservation data, pointed out that, by region, the largest number of international travelers visiting the United States since mid-2020 comes from Latin America, but the people who are booking flights since the end of September, when the government of Biden reported that he would lift travel restrictions, they are mainly European.

The reopening of land borders with Canada and Mexico should also help reestablish travel, as they are often the two main sources of international visitors to the United States.

But the U.S. Travel Association forecast in June that travel would not return to 2019 levels of nearly 80 million visitors until 2024.

The number of international travelers decreased to 19 million in 2020 and is set to increase a little this year, to more than 26 million, and double to about 57 million in 2022, but it would still be far from the levels recorded before. of the pandemic.

The United States is not alone in trying to jumpstart travel as more people get vaccinated. Some countries that closed their borders have gradually begun to ease restrictions, such as Australia, India and Thailand. Europe opened its doors to Americans months ago.

In the past two weeks, 75% of new bookings at three Moxy hotels in Manhattan have been from Europeans, mostly from Britain, Spain, France and Germany, said Mitchell Hochberg, president of hotel operator Lightstone.

However, Hochberg believes it will take at least until spring for international bookings to return to pre-pandemic levels. “Traveling can be cumbersome. Flights are somewhat limited at the moment, ”he said.